Party on Dude

The American public is embarrassingly ignorant according to Matthew Robinson, author of the article "Party on Dude." Robinson claims that the current and upcoming generations of American voters know next-to-nothing about politics and cannot even name their congressional representative. Americans don't know the basics about the Constitution, about American history, and about the facts behind key political initiatives. According to Robinson, 99% of college seniors can identify Beavis and Butthead or Snoop Dogg but only 22% know where the phrase "government of the people, by the people and for the people" comes from (p. 2). Ignorance about basic American history and politics plays right into the hands of the pollsters and the media, according to the author.

Ignorance has major repercussions on public policy because public policy is often based on polling data. The results of polls are used to shape political platforms and political debates. Pollsters need to be more aware of American ignorance, asking more open-ended questions that reveal the public's knowledge or ignorance of the issues. When pollsters frame questions, respondents appear to hold opinions about issues or people they actually know nothing about. As a result, policy makers and politicians base their decisions on misleading polling data. Ignorance also enables parties and politicians in power to win elections because ignorant voters are more likely to pick a familiar name than an unfamiliar name. Pollsters have the power to shape public opinion in conjunction with the media. Because of this Robinson ultimately claims that ignorance is one of the biggest threats to democracy.

Section 2: Robinson shows how most Americans know and seem to care more about popular culture than about politics. The introductory statistics take up almost two pages and are both insightful and frightening. However, the piece is somewhat ironic. If Robinson is concerned about the ways pollsters shape public opinion, then why is he relying so much on polling data to prove his point? His statistics are impressive but there is no way of knowing how accurate they are in terms of the population sampled. Even if the statistics are correct, Robinson does not suggest how Americans can become less ignorant or how the school system can improve its civics education. Finally, Robinson criticizes the American public without offering a substantive critique of the polling industry itself, which has too heavy an influence on public policy and politics.

References

Robinson, Matthew. "Party on, Dudes!"